Chapter 1

Rachael McCalistar

Status: Admiral

November 21, 2014 0800 hours

Double A headquarters

"Ready?"

"Bring it on."

"Go."

Racheal, or formally know as Kitty, for my cat-like behavior, squinted directly into my cousin, Fiery, eyes. Fiery stared back with the same intensity, but she could see tears prickling at the edges of her thickly lashed eyes. A minute had passed between them when Fiery cried out unexpectedly, "Look! It's Dracket!" Causing me to glance frantically over my shoulder.

"You cheat! There's no one there!" I swiveled back to Fiery, anger slashed on my face.

"Oh well, maybe my eyesight is going." Fiery gave a careless shrug, smiling triumphantly, "Anyway, I win!"

I stood there blinking, my mind going over how she had tricked me. My hands trembled. If Dr. Dracket had really been standing there in the flesh, his bright emerald eyes glinting at me furiously beneath his over sized glasses, I would have, would have…

Screamed.

Ran.

Hid.

A single tear rolled silently down my cheek before I could brush it away. This was no way to live, I told myself for the millionth time, I shouldn't be living with this fear creeping along after me.

Oh, but my dear, you wouldn't have me if you had no fear. That's what I'm here for. Your fear feeds my anger.

"Shut up." I muttered out loud.

Thankfully, no one was around to hear me. Fiery had skipped away gleefully, even though she was only a year younger than I was, she acted as if we were still twelve, but luckily for me, it was only around family and close friends that understood.

Before I could turn to chase after Fiery and demand a rematch, Chief's hologram appeared in front of me. His expression was impassive, as is he were trying to figure out if the thing was on or not.

I cleared my throat.

"Ah, there we go." His face flushed slightly. "Admiral McCalistar. I have a new assignment for you. Please report to the main office at once." And with that, he was gone.

I sighed. He should really get Thomas to help him out with the hologram.

I scurried down the disgustingly plain hallways, arriving at his office in minutes. I huffed as I flung the door up. Chief gave a small flinch as I burst through.

Raising my hands over my head I loudly cheered; "3.7 minutes, new record!" Before Chief could even open his mouth in surprise.

"Do they all act like this here?" Said a small voice behind me.

Chief's eyes narrowed. "No. Just her."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, sooorrry, I've been hanging out with Tom to much. Ya going to tell me why I'm here or do I have to guess?" I eased myself onto his desk, chairs weren't a commonly used item in my life.

"Racheal, I'd like you to meet Alice. She's going to be your new apprentice."

Alice's expression was equally perplexed as mine. It was Alice who broken the awkward silence. "You have got to be joking."

"I never joke. Since Racheal's last apprentice had an," He paused, searching for the right words, "unfortunate accident last month that has kept them from any further training, we decided to pair you two up." Chief then directed his attention to me, "You can show Alice to her room now while I finish up with the paper work. Behave."

I gave a glance to the stacks of paper on Chief's desk before heading out, getting a small glimpse of Alice's profile.

Alice rose from her chair, swinging her blue backpack over one shoulder afore trailing after me into the hall. She pulled her jacket tighter around herself, flipping her collar up as if it was raining. Alice scuttled along side of me, but at a safe distance where she could eye me with her weird, scared suspicion.

"So, how old are you getting to be, Swifty?" I said casually, getting a dumbfounded look from Alice.

"Where'd you get that name?" She snapped, although her voice had barely rose above whisper.

This girl radiates of fear, I can smell it on her, almost taste it.

I muttered something under my breath before answering. "I saw it on your profile, Swift Winds. Is that your official name, or street name?" My features kept cool, even as Alice's became hotter.

It's none of your business. So, please, DO NOT ever mention that name to anyone else."

Alice somehow kept her voice low and controlled.

Easier to intimidate than I thought. Good.

"Alrightly, Swifty." I scoffed.

Alice grimaced.

I grinned.

"And your age is?"

"Fifteen."

"Hmm, cool." Least I didn't get some little kid.

We came to halt in front of the main entrance of the dorms, a shriek rose up from behind oak panels of the door. Alice shrank back, eyes wide with fear.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. It's only Kat and Bubba, the only siblings here, their volumes are loud and louder. Hope you don't mind losing you hearing so early in you life. Come on, they don't bite. I do though." I tugged at the door handle, letting myself in with Alice stuck close to my side.

Neither Kat nor Bubba noticed us as they passed by, waving their arms and throwing insults at each other. I led Alice Alice all the way down the hall to the last room, my fingers had hardly brushed over the door knob to Alice's new room when someone cleared their throat behind us.

Ah, our old friend Tom, you know he likes you, don't you? I wonder what passion and heartbreak tastes like.

"Hush," I muttered under my breath, as I turned to meet his pair of dark, attentive eyes.

A boy in his mid teens stood there, his mocha brown hair tufted around his face in random directions, he had on a simple outfit of jeans and a green T-shirt, but what was the real catcher was all the gadgets strapped to his body. At least what once were supposedly watches went up to his elbow, a toolkit belted around his waist and a device similar to a magnifying glass with all sorts of lenses rested comfortable in his jumble of hair.

I greeted Thomas with a friendly smile. "Oh, hey Tom," Taking a step to the side, I revealed Alice's huddled form, "Meet Swifty, my new apprentice."

Thomas rose his hand in a small shy wave, talking to her as if she was a child. "Hello Alice, I presume that you'll find your time in this facility quite intriguing. If you survive."

Alice's eyebrows shot up in a surprised arch. "What? What do you-

He didn't allow her to finish. "Hey Racheal, have you seen the new software I installed in our security system? A normal human being wouldn't even even be able to bypass the door mechanisms. But maybe… just maybe, one of us might have the least bit of a chance, very slim chance."

The usually 'flirting.' Ugh.

Alice's mouth stood agape, but snapped it closed when I elbowed her in the ribs playfully. "You can always count on Tom to supply this place with the latest, tip top gadgets, eh?"

Alice couldn't even muster up the strength to nod, her face drained of color. "How do you know my name?" She blurted out.

Thomas didn't look the least bit surprised, instead his face had an amused appearance to it. "I'm the one who recommended you. My-" Thomas gave me a glance, I retorted by warningly eyeing him. "Our," He started again, "friends call me Chief's extra pair of hands." He leaned closer, a faint whiff of unknown chemical drifted from him, and spoke in a low voice, "I keep this place so up-to-date that he, sort of, gave up on controlling it, that's how older are, by theory, when they see the newest hypermedia they draw back into their old timers shell and let us 'kids' deal with it."

I punched Thomas in the arm, hard enough to make him wince. "Are you going to be the next headmaster dude around here?"

"I certainly hope so, I've predicted that Chief will retire in the next 2 to 4 years. So that gives me plenty of time to learn how to run the place." He answered sheepishly, grinning so wide that it must have hurt.

I threw my head back and laughed. "Isn't he the cutest thing?" I attempted the throw my arms around him in a tight hug, but he managed to escape my breath taking embrace in one fluid motion.

Oh stop your swooning.

One, or maybe two of his watches beeped, Thomas glanced down at them and took in a sharp breath. "I've got to go. See you later Kitty!" And with that he was gone.

I waved after him before turning back to the door, letting myself in, with Alice tailing me. I heard a small gasp come from her, turning to see her bug-eyeing at the room we had entered. It was large, but to plain for my taste. A simple bed with white covers, a desk, nightstand, and dresser. All were made of thick, pale oak, with white curtains covering the three wide windows that's view was of the neatly trimmed lawn out back and the walls were a sky blue.

"I know it's a bit plain, but once you've gave it a piece of your personality, it'll be be livable," I commented, "The girls bathroom is on the right, three doors down. Sorry, but only the higher ranks get their own bathroom.

Alice stood stunned, "This is mine?" She breathed.

"Yea. We're all like a big family here. You'll find your place soon enough, don't rush it. And if you need anything, especially with decorating, just ask."

She had just set her backpack down on the bed. I decided to leave her to her own thing and left the room, "Yo, coz, where'd you go? I've been looking all over for you."

I turned around to find Fierystone slouched against a wall behind me with her usual ear to ear grin.

"Chief called me in, got assigned a new apprentice." I replied, receiving a snicker from Fiery.

"Let's just hope you don't kill this one huh?"

"The last one wasn't following orders, quite disrespectful."

"Ha. Yeah you beat her to the ground." Fiery eyes blazed through me.

Oh, that was a fun day.

"That wasn't me! I mean it was, but it was my fau-

"RACHAEL!"

Our heads snapped in the direction of which the high pitched scream had come from, I braced myself for what was to come. "What the heck was that?" Fiery said, drawing her sword into a defensive position.

I gasped, realization dawned on me. "My apprentice!" I pulled out my sword as well, "Let's go check it out." I braced myself at the door with Fierystone at my side.

What could be on the other side? Monsters? Physiopathic murders? With a long history of paranormal occurrences, just about anything could happen…

We burst through the door, our weapons at the ready, expecting the worst. But instead of monsters or murders, we just saw a small form crying and clinging on my leg like her life depended on it.

"Swifty? What are you doing?"

"Don't you ever leave me alone again, do you hear me?" A short sprut of anger came through the hot tears streaming down her face, she looked like an angry chicklet, adorably harmless.

Awwwwe, it's so cute and terrified!

Oh great…

I turned to Fierystone, "Meet my apprentice, Swift Winds, or formally known as Alice Parker." I grumbled, annoyed.

My cousin didn't even answer, she just started laughing, "You've got to be kidding me! You've got a chicken for an apprentice!" Those words stung Alice, making her more upset, she squeezed tighter to my leg.

My sword was sheathed with the faint sound of metal grinding and a clank. I knew trying to play cool in front of my cousin was pointless so I got right to business. "Swifty, if you're going to want to have a good stable mentor and apprentice relationship, then you're going to NOT want to pull one like that ever again."

Alice hesitated, "Okay. Just don't leave me alone again, and keep her away from me."

Confusion clouded my face, I gave Fiery a glace, she looked pretty harmless, other than the sharp blade in hand. "This is my cousin, Fierystone, it's alright, she's not dangerous, if you're a friend."

Alice mumbled a bit under her breath and stuck out her hand saying, "Nice to meet you…Turkey."

Fierystone grinned, shaking her hand vigorously, "Same goes for you, drunk chicken!"

I crossed my arms over my chest, giving a small huff. "Fiery, there's no need to be that way, you don't even know her."

Fiery gave me a cocky grin, "Just about as much as you? And I'm not talking about her profile, I mean personally." Alice yanked her hand away fast, as if Fiery had some terrible deadly disease. Feeling she had made her point, Fiery tilted her head in acknowledgment that she was leaving, disappearing out the door.

"What am I gonna do with you? I'm not sleeping in the room over and I don't need to be here every minute of the day. Have you seriously grown that attached already?" My expression was harsh, but the look Alice gave me made it soften considerably. "Swifty, it's alright, there's nothing to be scared of," I tried to muster the most soothing voice possible, pulling her into a hug and stroking her knotted deep blue hair softly. "This place is extremely safe when it comes to security, so no one out there is going to get you, and the people in here are so busy with their own task that they'll hardly notice you unless you assert yourself."

Alice looked up at me with her big purple eyes, tears pickling at the edges, threatening to spill, "Promise?"

"Promise." I smiled down at her warmly.

It was like a wave of relief washed upon her, tears started to stream down her cheek as she wrapped her little arms around me, not out of fear, not out of a longing for protection, but out of love. "Thank you."